Not all of Europe is French

<o></o>I got this via e-mail from a Navy buddy currently in St. Augustine. We seem to have a few friends that think a bit -- <o =""></o>[COLOR=navy][FONT=Tahoma][SIZE=5][COLOR=navy][FONT=Tahoma][SIZE=5][COLOR=navy][FONT=Tahoma][SIZE=5][COLOR=navy][FONT=Tahoma][SIZE=5][COLOR=navy][FONT=Tahoma][SIZE=5][COLOR=navy][FONT=Tahoma][SIZE=5][COLOR=navy]
[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/COLOR]A GERMAN THOUGHT<o =""></o>
<o =""></o>If any of you still feel that this war on terror is a mistake, here is an opinion from an unexpected source. This is not a problem that is going to be easy to solve. It is the struggle to maintain our Western way of life and the very culture that has made it possible. Lose this one, and our grandchildren may be speaking Arabic, those of them that survive the "conversion".<o =""></o>

<o =""></o>Look at what has been happening in <st1 =""></st1><st1 ="">Europe</st1> the last couple of weeks. For all practical purposes, they won <st1:country-region><st1 ="">Spain</st1></st1:country-region> without any effort on their part other than a couple of bombs in public places. Now they are burning <st1:city u1:st="on"></st1:city><st1:city><st1 ="">Paris</st1></st1:city> and hitting on <st1:city><st1 ="">Holland</st1></st1:city> and <st1:country-region u1:st="on"><st1 =""></st1></st1:country-region><st1:country-region><st1 ="">Belgium</st1></st1:country-region>.<o =""></o>

<o =""></o>Better get serious, very, very serious!<o =""></o>
<o =""></o>It's fascinating that this should come out of <st1 =""></st1><st1 ="">Europe</st1>. Mathias Dapfner, Chief Executive of the huge German publisher Axel Springer AG, has written a blistering attack in DIE WELT, <st1:country-region><st1 ="">Germany</st1></st1:country-region>'s largest daily paper, against the timid reaction of <st1 =""></st1><st1 ="">Europe</st1> in the face of the Islamic threat. This is a must-read by all Americans. History will certify its correctness.

<o =""></o>A few days ago Henry Broder wrote in Welt am Sonntag, "<st1 =""></st1><st1 ="">Europe</st1> - your family name is appeasement." It's a phrase you can't get out of your head because it's so terribly true.

<o =""></o>Appeasement cost millions of Jews and non-Jews their lives, as England and France, allies at the time, negotiated and hesitated too long before they noticed that Hitler had to be fought, not bound to toothless agreements.<o =""></o>

<o =""></o>Appeasement legitimized and stabilized Communism in the <st1 ="">Soviet Union</st1>, then <st1:country-region u1:st="on"></st1:country-region><st1:country-region><st1 ="">East Germany</st1></st1:country-region>, then all the rest of <st1 =""></st1><st1 ="">Eastern Europe</st1>, where for decades, inhuman suppressive, murderous governments were glorified as the ideologically correct alternative to all other possibilities.<o =""></o>

<o =""></o>Appeasement crippled <st1 ="">Europe</st1> when genocide ran rampant in Kosovo, and even though we had absolute proof of ongoing mass-murder, we Europeans debated and debated and debated, and were still debating when finally the Americans had to come from halfway around the world, into <st1 =""></st1><st1 ="">Europe</st1> yet again, and do our work for us.<o =""></o>

<o =""></o>[COLOR=navy][COLOR=navy][FONT=Tahoma]Appeasement generates a mentality that allows Europe to ignore nearly 500,000 victims of Saddam's torture and murder machinery and, motivated by the self-righteousness of the peace movement, has the gall to issue bad grades to George Bush ... Even as it is uncovered that the loudest critics of the American action in Iraq made illicit billions, no, TENS of billions, in the corrupt U.N. Oil-for-Food program.[/FONT][/COLOR][/COLOR]<o =""></o>

<o =""></o>[COLOR=navy][COLOR=navy][FONT=Tahoma]And now we are faced with a particularly grotesque form of appeasement. How is [/FONT][/COLOR][/COLOR]<st1:country-region><st1 ="">[COLOR=navy][COLOR=navy][FONT=Tahoma]Germany[/FONT][/COLOR][/COLOR]</st1></st1:country-region>[COLOR=navy][FONT=Tahoma][SIZE=5][COLOR=navy][COLOR=navy][FONT=Tahoma] reacting to the escalating violence by Islamic Fundamentalists in <st1:city u1:st="on"><st1 =""></st1></st1:city>[/FONT][/COLOR][/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]<st1:city><st1 ="">[FONT=Tahoma][SIZE=5][COLOR=navy][COLOR=navy][FONT=Tahoma]Holland[/FONT][/COLOR][/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]</st1>lace></st1:city>[FONT=Tahoma][SIZE=5][COLOR=navy][COLOR=navy][FONT=Tahoma] and elsewhere? [B][B]By suggesting that we really should have a "Muslim [/B][/B][/FONT][/COLOR][/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]<st1 ="">[B][FONT=Tahoma][SIZE=5][COLOR=navy][COLOR=navy][FONT=Tahoma][B]Holiday[/B][/FONT][/COLOR][/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/B]</st1>[B][FONT=Tahoma][SIZE=5][COLOR=navy][COLOR=navy][FONT=Tahoma][B]" in <st1:country-region u1:st="on"><st1 =""></st1></st1:country-region>[/B][/FONT][/COLOR][/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/B]<st1:country-region><st1 ="">[B][FONT=Tahoma][SIZE=5][COLOR=navy][COLOR=navy][FONT=Tahoma][B]Germany[/B][/FONT][/COLOR][/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/B]</st1></st1:country-region>[B][FONT=Tahoma][SIZE=5][COLOR=navy][COLOR=navy][FONT=Tahoma][B]?[/B][/FONT][/COLOR][/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/B][FONT=Arial][SIZE=4][COLOR=black][COLOR=black][FONT=Arial]
[/FONT][/COLOR][/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Tahoma][SIZE=5][COLOR=navy][COLOR=navy][FONT=Tahoma]I wish I were joking, but I am not. A substantial fraction of our (German) Government, and if the polls are to be believed, the German people, actually believe that creating an Official State "Muslim Holiday" will somehow spare us from the wrath of the fanatical Islamists.[/FONT][/COLOR][/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]<o =""></o>[/COLOR]

[FONT=Tahoma][SIZE=5][COLOR=navy] <o =""></o>[FONT=Tahoma][SIZE=5][COLOR=navy][COLOR=navy][FONT=Tahoma]What else has to happen before the European public and its political leadership get it? There is a sort of crusade underway, an especially perfidious crusade consisting of systematic attacks by fanatic Muslims, focused on civilians, directed against our free, open Western societies, and intent upon Western Civilization's utter destruction.[/FONT][/COLOR][/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]<o =""></o>

<o =""></o>[FONT=Tahoma][SIZE=5][COLOR=navy][COLOR=navy][FONT=Tahoma]It is a conflict that will most likely last longer than any of the great military conflicts of the last century - a conflict conducted by an enemy that cannot be tamed by "tolerance" and "accommodation" but is actually spurred on by such gestures, which have proven to be, and will always be taken by the Islamists for signs of weakness. Only two recent American Presidents had the courage needed for Anti-appeasement: Reagan and Bush.[/FONT][/COLOR][/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]<o =""></o>

<o =""></o>[FONT=Tahoma][SIZE=5][COLOR=navy][COLOR=navy][FONT=Tahoma]His American critics may quibble over the details, but we Europeans know the truth. We saw it first hand: Ronald Reagan ended the Cold War, freeing half of the German people from nearly 50 years of terror and virtual slavery. And Bush, supported only by the Social Democrat Blair, acting on moral conviction, recognized the danger in the Islamic War against Democracy. His place in history will have to be evaluated after a number of years have passed.[/FONT][/COLOR][/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]<o =""></o>

<o =""></o>[FONT=Tahoma][SIZE=5][COLOR=navy][COLOR=navy][FONT=Tahoma]In the meantime, [/FONT][/COLOR][/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]<st1 ="">[FONT=Tahoma][SIZE=5][COLOR=navy][COLOR=navy][FONT=Tahoma]Europe[/FONT][/COLOR][/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]</st1>[FONT=Tahoma][SIZE=5][COLOR=navy][COLOR=navy][FONT=Tahoma] sits back with charismatic self-confidence in the multicultural corner, instead of defending liberal society's values and being an attractive center of power on the same playing field as the true great powers, <st1:country-region u1:st="on"></st1:country-region>[/FONT][/COLOR][/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]<st1:country-region><st1 ="">[FONT=Tahoma][SIZE=5][COLOR=navy][COLOR=navy][FONT=Tahoma]America[/FONT][/COLOR][/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]</st1></st1:country-region>[FONT=Tahoma][SIZE=5][COLOR=navy]<st1:country-region><st1 =""> [FONT=Tahoma][SIZE=5][COLOR=navy][COLOR=navy][FONT=Tahoma]China[/FONT][/COLOR][/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]</st1></st1:country-region>[FONT=Tahoma][SIZE=5][COLOR=navy][COLOR=navy][FONT=Tahoma].[/FONT][/COLOR][/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]<o =""></o>[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]

[FONT=Tahoma][SIZE=5][COLOR=navy] <o =""></o>[FONT=Tahoma][SIZE=5][COLOR=navy][COLOR=navy][FONT=Tahoma]On the contrary - we Europeans present ourselves, in contrast to those "arrogant Americans", as the World Champions of "tolerance", which even ([/FONT][/COLOR][/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]<st1:country-region><st1 ="">[FONT=Tahoma][SIZE=5][COLOR=navy][COLOR=navy][FONT=Tahoma]Germany[/FONT][/COLOR][/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]</st1></st1:country-region>[FONT=Tahoma][SIZE=5][COLOR=navy][FONT=Tahoma][SIZE=5][COLOR=navy][COLOR=navy][FONT=Tahoma]'s Interior Minister) Otto Schily justifiably criticizes.[/FONT][/COLOR][/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]<o =""></o>[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]

[FONT=Tahoma][SIZE=5][COLOR=navy] <o =""></o>[FONT=Tahoma][SIZE=5][COLOR=navy][COLOR=navy][FONT=Tahoma]Why? Because we're so moral? [B][B]I fear it's more because we're so materialistic, so devoid of a moral compass.[/B][/B][/FONT][/COLOR][/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial][SIZE=4][COLOR=black][COLOR=black][FONT=Arial]
[/FONT][/COLOR][/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Tahoma][SIZE=5][COLOR=navy][COLOR=navy][FONT=Tahoma]For his policies, Bush risks the fall of the dollar, huge amounts of additional national debt, and a massive and persistent burden on the American economy - because unlike almost all of <st1 =""></st1>[/FONT][/COLOR][/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]<st1 ="">[FONT=Tahoma][SIZE=5][COLOR=navy][COLOR=navy][FONT=Tahoma]Europe[/FONT][/COLOR][/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]</st1>[FONT=Tahoma][SIZE=5][COLOR=navy][FONT=Tahoma][SIZE=5][COLOR=navy][COLOR=navy][FONT=Tahoma], [B][U][B]Bush realizes what is at stake - literally everything.[/B][/U][/B][/FONT][/COLOR][/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]<o =""></o>[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]

[FONT=Tahoma][SIZE=5][COLOR=navy] <o =""></o>[FONT=Tahoma][SIZE=5][COLOR=navy][COLOR=navy][FONT=Tahoma]While we criticize the "capitalistic robber barons" of <st1:country-region u1:st="on"><st1 =""></st1></st1:country-region>[/FONT][/COLOR][/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]<st1:country-region><st1 ="">[FONT=Tahoma][SIZE=5][COLOR=navy][COLOR=navy][FONT=Tahoma]America[/FONT][/COLOR][/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]</st1></st1:country-region>[FONT=Tahoma][SIZE=5][COLOR=navy][FONT=Tahoma][SIZE=5][COLOR=navy][COLOR=navy][FONT=Tahoma] because they seem too sure of their priorities, we timidly defend our Social Welfare systems. Stay out of it! It could get expensive! We'd rather discuss reducing our 35-hour workweek or our dental coverage, or our 4 weeks of paid vacation ... Or listen to TV pastors preach about the need to "reach out to terrorists. To understand and forgive".[/FONT][/COLOR][/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]<o =""></o>[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/COLOR][COLOR=navy][FONT=Tahoma][SIZE=5][COLOR=navy][FONT=Tahoma][SIZE=5][COLOR=navy][FONT=Tahoma][SIZE=5][COLOR=navy][FONT=Tahoma][SIZE=5][COLOR=navy]

[FONT=Tahoma][SIZE=5][COLOR=navy] <o =""></o>[FONT=Tahoma][SIZE=5][COLOR=navy][COLOR=navy][FONT=Tahoma]These days, <st1 =""></st1>[/FONT][/COLOR][/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]<st1 ="">[FONT=Tahoma][SIZE=5][COLOR=navy][COLOR=navy][FONT=Tahoma]Europe[/FONT][/COLOR][/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]</st1>[FONT=Tahoma][SIZE=5][COLOR=navy][FONT=Tahoma][SIZE=5][COLOR=navy][COLOR=navy][FONT=Tahoma] reminds me of an old woman who, with shaking hands, frantically hides her last pieces of jewelry when she notices a robber breaking into a neighbor's house.[/FONT][/COLOR][/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]<o =""></o>[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]